Spain
[ES] Non Adoption of Three Bills on the Creation of a Regulatory Authority for the Broadcasting Sector
IRIS 2001-2:1/18
Alberto Pérez Gómez
Entidad publica empresarial RED.ES
Spain is one of the few countries within the European Union and the Council of Europe in which the main authority for the audio-visual sector is not an independent regulatory body. There is a regulatory authority in Catalonia (Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya) and, at national level, there is an independent authority, the Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (Telecommunications Market Commission), which has some powers concerning the audio-visual sector. However, at national level the authority that has power to enforce most of the provisions related to Spanish media Law is the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Ministry for Science and Technology).
In April and May 2000, three opposition parliamentary groups presented bills on the creation of an independent national regulatory authority for the broadcasting sector. On 21 November 2000, the bills were voted on in the Congreso (Lower House) in order to decide whether they were going to be accepted for further discussion or rejected. The bills were rejected by the Popular Party, which considered that these bills did not provide adequate solutions to some problems raised by convergence and that it would be better to wait until the Government presented its bill on this subject (scheduled for 2001). Some parties that also opposed the bills urged the Government to meet its obligations in this field.
References
- Proposición de Ley de creación del Consejo Superior de los Medios Audiovisuales (Orgánica), presentada por el Grupo Parlamentario Socialista, nº 20-1, 25 de Abril de 2000
- http://www.congreso.es/cgi-bin/congreso/iniciativas/tramitadas_proposiciones
- Bill presented by the Socialist Party on the creation of an audio-visual Council, nº 20-1, 25 april 2000
- Proposición de Ley de creación del Consejo de la Comunicación, presentada por el Grupo Parlamentario Federal de Izquierda Unida, nº 35-1, 8 de Mayo de 2000
- http://www.congreso.es/cgi-bin/congreso/iniciativas/tramitadas_proposiciones
- Bill presented by United Left on the creation of an audio-visual Counci, nº 35-1, 8 April 2000
- Proposición de Ley de creación del Consejo de la Comunicación, presentada por el Grupo Parlamentario Mixto, nº 53-1, 22 de Mayo de 2000
- http://www.congreso.es/cgi-bin/congreso/iniciativas/tramitadas_proposiciones
- Bill presented by the Grupo Mixto on the creation of an audio-visual Council, nº 53-1, 22 May 2000
- Toma en consideración de Proposiciones de Ley presentadas por el Partido Socialista, Izquierda Unida y el Grupo Mixto. Diario de Sesiones del Congreso de los Diputados - Pleno, VII Legislatura - nº 42, Sesión Plenaria nº 40, 21 de Noviembre de 2000, pp. 2058-2067
- http://www.congreso.es/public_oficiales/L7/CONG/DS/PL/PL_042.PDF
- Voting in the Congreso (Lower House) of the Bills presented by the Socialist Party, United Left and the Grupo Mixto on the creation of an audio-visual Council. Diario de Sesiones del Congreso de los Diputados - Pleno, VII Legislatura - nº 42, Plenary Seesion n. 40, 21 of November 2000, pp. 2058-2067
This article has been published in IRIS Legal Observations of the European Audiovisual Observatory.